Worship: The Battle Ground of the Ego and the Soul

Let's have a look at worship, the lyric and melody type worship. Worship is of course the totality of how we live our lives. Worship is living in a way that gives honour and glory to God. But worship - in the sense of singing - is something that most Christians do, from Sunday to Sunday. 

Why? 

Let’s have a look at what is probably the most famous worship verse in the bible. The worship pastor's go to 'proof text' and 'sum-it-all-up-in-one-verse.'

Psalm 22:3

You can see the Hebrew text in the center of the image. Hebrew poetry, which the psalms are, is arranged via specific numbers of words rather than the specific sounds that words make - it's not about rhyming.

With this in mind, there is some uncertainty as to whether Psalm 22:3 is 3 words and then 2 words, or 2 words and then 3 words? Does the word I’ve highlighted in yellow go with the top line, or does it go with the bottom line?

Different English translations go in different directions.

The NIV thinks 3 and then 2 = You are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises. 

The ESV thinks 2 and then 3 = You are holy, enthroned (inhabiting) the praises of Israel.

It’s only a little different but makes a big difference, at least in this discussion. 

My Old Testament Professor, John Goldingay, has written a fantastic commentary on Psalms. He thinks 3 and then 2 words and thus sides with the NIV translation. He offers the following… The idea of Yahweh sitting enthroned in the heavens or in Zion is a familiar one (offers a bunch of verses).  Likewise, the idea that Yahweh is the one Israel praises is a familiar one (more verses as examples). But the idea of Yahweh being enthroned on or inhabiting Israel’s praise is unparalleled, and if either of these were the psalm’s point, one might have expected it to be expressed more clearly. 

Thus it is simply more likely that the NIV translation is correct. We can’t be certain. But I think it is fair to run with the NIV.

If we go with the ESV translation of the text, then the next thing we know, we’ve well-meaning Worship Pastors yelling at us; “Come on people, God inhabits the praises of his people! Let’s get singing. Let’s make some noise. Let’s really get into this and ensure that God comes and presences himself with us. Let's really make an effort.”

Bubbling away, just below the surface, is the idea that we have discovered a key or a principle by which we can get God to come at our beck and call. Hallelujah! We've found a way to make worship transactional in order to get out of it what we want. Some people promote methodologies or theologies that turn prayer and fasting and giving into transactional based activities. Beware - these practices are intended to be transformational not transactional.  

In this instance, worship supposedly becomes something that we initiate, and a means by which we move God. If we sing then God will show up, we'll have an encounter. 

You don’t have to travel too far down this road before things start to get bent out of shape. We soon have this great push to sing louder, lift our hands higher, kneel or bow down lower, clench your eyes tighter, be more sincere, be more intense, get a better sound system, get better singers on the stage, get better musicians on the stage, get a better stage. Generally just make more of an effort to make worship something amazing. 

  

Even just intuitively I think we all know that this isn’t what worship is about. But often this is what it has become about. 

If we’re not careful, it all starts to echo the prophets of Baal on Mt Carmel, beating themselves up trying to get a miracle. 

If we go with the NIV version of the text, likely a more accurate translation, I think we'll end up heading down a better path.

Bubbling away, just below the surface of this English translation, is the idea, the conviction, that God is prior to everything. God is the initiator of everything. God is present and inhabits all things, all times, all places. God initiates and we respond.

We don’t sing and then God turns up. We sing because God has already turned up.

And so, we sing louder, we lift our hands higher, we make some noise, we kneel or bow. But NOT because we are trying to make more of an effort and get God to do something. Rather it is an embodied response to the fact that God has already done something - everything. 

Here is perhaps a better verse to start from.

Revelation 3:20

Jesus speaking – Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with them, and they with me.

Worship isn’t God hearing our voice and responding. Worship is about us hearing His voice and responding.

God’s prior to everything.
God’s the great initiator.
The universe hums with God’s song, long before I try and bring my song.

Worship is a table of hospitality.
The love of the Father is the invitation.
The Holy Spirit is the host.
Musicians and singers are serving.
Jesus is the life-giving meal.

We’re invited to the table, invited to partake, invited to taste and see that the Lord is God, that Jesus is living water, that Jesus is the Bread of Life. We’re invited to take a seat at the table and participate. 

So how do we participate?

Singing is a fully embodied activity, it is an “everything that's in me” type activity. Songs are about lyric and melody, which means songs are about thinking and feeling. Songs are about action and contemplation.

You never put on your favorite album, your favorite song, and then sit or stand dead still. Even if you are following along reading the lyrics your foot will be tapping, your fingers thrumming, your head bobbing. 

Here is Journey's Don’t Stop Believing - try and watch this without moving, impossible! Steve Perry is rocking it! Play it super loud!

Worship is something we participate in when we allow our thinking and feeling to come together in embodied participation. Music, movement, meditation all in one go.

This instructional video may be helpful.

So we lift our hands, we shut our eyes, we stand, we sway, we sing loud, we tap our feet -- NOT because in worship we need to really make an effort, really force things, like the prophets on Mount Carmel, really get stuck in so that God knows we are sincere and will hopefully show up -- we worship because God has already shown up - big time. Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us!

We worship and we engage our whole body in the process because that's how we participate. 

The reason that the worship video clip is funny (I hope you thought it was) is because it is so true. We've all seen it get a little weird in worship.

Look at this next diagram. You have the same stuff - singing louder, lifting hands, making noise, and so on - on both sides of the equation. However, on one side it’s about striving and straining to get something. One the other side it is about learning to let go. 

And what’s it about letting go of? It’s about letting go of our ego.

The physical action in worship, our arms lifted before God, singing passionately despite our abilities and so forth, well it’s all about the abandonment of ego.

It is physical action that produces as spiritual openness, a spiritual atmosphere even. Of course it does! Everything is spiritual.

Through embodied engagement in worship we let go of our ego. We let go of  self-consciousness, self-interest, self-reliance, self-sufficiency. All of which, if unchecked, become manifestations of self-worship, a form of idolatry. Holding onto oneself rather than giving oneself over to God.  

In worship, when we practice full participation, we find that the abandonment of ego opens our souls to receive the one who is the Bread of Life, Living Water, the Way, the Truth and the Life.

  

Worship is thus the battle ground of the ego and the soul. 

In this next video clip check out the battle between the ego and the soul. The boy in the middle is “soul.” The girls next to him represent “ego.”

Ego and soul are fighting. Ego says; "stand still, don’t be silly, be dignified, what will people think?" Soul says; "loose yourself in the music, in the moment, you’ve only got one shot."

Here’s a bird that exemplifies what it is to totally let go of ego and embrace soul. You’ll be able to tell which bird.

When we let go of ego we find our soul.

And in finding our soul we find a space to experience all that is true about God.

The psalmist sings in Psalm 103…

Psalm 103:1-5
¹ Praise the Lord, my soul;
    all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
² Praise the Lord, my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits—
³ who forgives all your sins
    and heals all your diseases,
⁴ who redeems your life from the pit
    and crowns you with love and compassion,
⁵ who satisfies your desires with good things
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

When we let go of ego and we sing from our inmost being our heart collides with the Father heart of God.

And then, God who is present with us, and the lyrics that we are singing, and the music that imprints it into our very beings, begins to re-script, re-order, re-configure, re-write and redeem the story of our lives and of life.

We let go of and lay down the illusions of self-sufficiency we have, we throw out all the messages that the world tries so hard to throw at us… movies, magazines, media, marketing… in an attempt to shape our lives. In an attempt to tell us, what success means, what should be pursued and valued and loved. What’s worthless and should be thrown away. What the good life is or isn’t. Who I am. Who I should be.

In the lyric, melody of worship and our embodied participation we are re-shaped by God. We find truth and life. Rather than falsehood and death. Rather than finding ourselves shaped by the world’s liturgy, we are shaped by the person of Jesus Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the love of God.

Not because we are striving and struggling and making great efforts, but because we are letting go, and embodying God’s truth in worship.

That’s how it is meant to be. That’s how it’s always meant to be. That’s how worship works. We embody the song. We eat with Jesus. We find life. Ego dies. Our soul comes alive. It changes the way we live.

Through the abandonment and delight of letting go.

It keeps us safe from the temptation to turn worship into either the manipulation of God or of our fellow brother and sisters. It prevents us from turning worship into a man-made, self-gratifying, consumer driven, tick box event that God despises.

Amos 5:21-27
²¹ “I hate, I despise your religious festivals;
    your assemblies are a stench to me.
²² Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
    I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
    I will have no regard for them.
²³ Away with the noise of your songs!
    I will not listen to the music of your harps.
²⁴ But let justice roll on like a river,
    righteousness like a never-failing stream!
²⁵ “Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
    forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel?
²⁶ You have lifted up the shrine of your king,
    the pedestal of your idols,
    the star of your god—
    which you made for yourselves.
²⁷ Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,”
    says the Lord, whose name is God Almighty.

In the scenario here in Amos, worship “stuff” is happening. But lives aren’t being re-framed. It’s not resulting in justice and righteousness and mercy flowing into the world. This shouldn't be surprising, after all, love and justice and mercy and compassion and kindness, the fruit of the Spirit; it doesn't flow from your ego, it flows from the heart of one who has encountered the love of God in worship. 

Worship – the adoration, glorification and honouring of God. Heart touches heart. 

Worship – the abandonment of ego in the lyric and melody of song. 

Worship – the saving of our souls as that which is deep within is allowed to come to the surface. 

Worship – the formation of our lives as the scripts of our world are replaced by the truth of Jesus.

Worship – It’s not about my voice and God responding to my voice. It’s about his voice and me responding to his voice.

Worship – A table of hospitality. The love of the Father is the invitation. The Holy Spirit is the host. Musicians and singers are serving. Jesus is the life giving meal.

Worship – The battle ground of the ego and the soul.

Worship – Lyric and melody searching for action and contemplation.

Mo Money, Mo Problems – Money: Part 3 of 4

I don't know what, they want from me
It's like the more money we come across
The more problems we see
What's going on?
What's going on?
I don't know what, they want from me
It's like the more money we come across
The more problems we see

Artist – The Notorious B.I.G feat. Mase and Puff Daddy
Song – Mo Money, Mo Problems
Album – Life After Death
Year –1997

____________

Stewardship, hard work, diligence, is SECONDARY to gift. Gift comes first. Life itself is a divine gift, a divine handout. The way each of us is uniquely woven together, our time and place in history, our skills and talents and abilities – undeveloped as they might initially be – is the first leg up we receive.

There is no such thing as a self-made man, a self-made millionarie. 

__________

This is part 3 of 4 in a brief series of posts on money. 

Part 1, Living in Beverly Hills, can be read here.
Part 2, Money, That’s What I Want, can be read here. (Please note that discretion is required in this post due to some of the language at one point).

A summary of the posts so far can be read in the italics below. Feel free to skip if you’ve read part 1 and part 2.

Blessing is God’s desire for humanity to live a flourishing, whole and right life. Secondly, blessing is God’s good work of creation that brings into existence the context and conditions needed for a blessed life. Thirdly, blessing is God’s faithful and ongoing work in our world to bring about blessing even though we are not always faithful. The devil, sin, our own hardness of heart and poor choices continually conspires against us and leads us into all sorts of destructive places, life is often a mess; anything but flourishing, whole or right. We rightly perceive that things have “gone wrong.” The climax of God’s faithfulness is God’s willingness to step right into our mess through Jesus Christ. Jesus brings grace and forgiveness, healing and reconciliation to God. This is where true blessing is found (Romans 4:7) and though we may only taste elements of a “blessed” life on this side of eternity, God’s Holy Spirit is a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. God in Jesus is setting the world right.

While there is an economic element to blessing; there is far more to a blessed life than what can be measured in economic terms. Sleeping soundly, laughing loudly, loving deeply, sharing bread and wine, living in wide-eyed wonder and in right relationship with God, self, others and creation all reflect a blessed life. To think of blessing only in economic terms is an impoverished view of blessing that has been high jacked by Western materialism and consumerism. Unchecked this view soon concludes that the source of a blessed life is money rather than God. Money equates to power and control and thus supposedly, enough money will mean power over and control of one’s life. We either become our own false god (with a false sense of power, authority and control), or, money becomes our false god offering false promises of a blessed life.

As Christ followers our call is not to attain power and control but to relinquish it, after all, “it is no longer I that lives but Christ that lives in me.” This does not mean that we become careless with money, rather we are to be careful with money. But, it is always a fine line between striving for power and control (the love of money) and the careful stewarding of resource (faithfulness with money). Gandalf, in The Lord of the Rings refuses to accept the ring of power from Frodo; “Don’t tempt me Frodo! I dare not take it. Not even to keep it safe. Understand, Frodo. I would use this ring from a desire to do good… but through me, it would wield a power to great and terrible to imagine.” In our world money has the potential to work like the Ring of Power, as much as it can do good, it has the potential to corrupt.

It is always a fine line between striving for power and control (the love of money) and the careful stewarding of resource (faithfulness with money).

Part 3 now follows…

Deuteronomy 8:6-9
Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.

In other words, a land of plenty, of abundance, of resource and opportunity and potential.

It’s not too hard to draw a lose analogy and see that in a similar way New Zealand is a land of plenty. We’re blessed to live in New Zealand. We’ve education, health care, law and order, democratic government, employment laws, banks that can be trusted, infrastructure, oceans, farms, forests, lakes, mountains, bio-diversity. We’re blessed.

The medium household income in New Zealand is $47,100. That income puts Kiwis in the wealthiest 4.5% of people in the world. We’re better off than 6.3 billion people. We should celebrate this. Thank God for this. We’ve landed here. Of all the places in the world. Thank you Jesus. 

Deuteronomy 8:10-17
When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.”

Despite being written to Israel hundreds of years ago, the advice is sound for us today. How easily we fall into the same trap. How quick we are to assume that what we have is primarily a result of all our hard work, all our effort, the power and strength of our hands. Or because of our intelligence and sharp minds.

Our culture celebrates the idea that someone might be a “self-made man” or a “self-made millionaire.” Nobody gave that person a leg up or a hand out. Legend! More people should be like they are!

Deuteronomy 8:18
But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.

In amongst all that follows, this is key:

Stewardship, hard work, diligence, is SECONDARY to gift. Gift comes first. Life itself is a divine gift, a divine handout. The way each of us is uniquely woven together, our time and place in history, our skills and talents and abilities – undeveloped as they might initially be – is the first leg up we receive.

Stewardship, good, bad or indifferent follows from gift.

The New Testament puts it like this in Acts 17:24-28…

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

We are each recipients of the gift of life.
Easy to say, “no I’m a result of biology.”
Sure, but God was the one that created and invented biology.
We’re just stewards of God’s great creation.
We are his off spring.
In him we live and move and have our being.
He marked out our appointed times in history and the boundaries of our lands.
In him each of us is fearfully and wonderfully and uniquely put together.
The recipients of his great gift that is life.

Gift comes first. Stewardship comes second.

We should note here that the gift is not quite the same from person to person.

The gift is life. The gift is a fearfully and wonderfully made human being. But man is there variety!

We’re all put together differently. We’ve all different skills and talents and abilities and temperaments and families of origin and ethnicities and passions and intellectual abilities and emotional sensitivities.

The starting point, from one person to the next, is infinitely varied. And it’s not all equal opportunity! Depending on what the goal, or a particular goal is, some have advantage and some are at a disadvantage.

- If the goal is to slam dunk a 10ft hoop by the age of 17 – well, hard luck short people.

- If the goal is to have a PhD by the time you are 27 – well, hard luck those not so intellectually inclined.
- If the goal is to be a millionaire by the time you are 37 – well, hard luck to you if you’re not business minded, a professional sports person, a rock star or one of the few that win Lotto.

Depending on where you set the finish line, for some it becomes a 100 m sprint, while for others it is 10,000 miles away. This is why we celebrate different achievements in different ways. We recognise the race isn’t even.

Thus in all things, we live in humility trusting that when Jesus returns, he’ll return with grace, and that God in all things will judge impartially.

1 Peter 1:13 and 17

Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming…  Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.

So gift comes before stewardship. 

The gift is life, it is the opportunity to know faith, hope and love. 

There is huge variety though.

Of course, our world sets all sorts of different benchmarks in terms of what it means to live the good life, to be successful, to be an achiever, to fit in or to stand out. These benchmarks become cruel task masters though. Especially when we remember that life’s not equal opportunity and that every person has a different starting point.

Sadly though, these become the ways we measure ourselves and compare ourselves to others and comparison has a tendency to ruin people’s lives.

Rather, in humility, we should simply seek to run our own race, to be faithful with what God has given us, and called us to do.

There is no need to compare with others, get one over others, look down on others or be intimidated by others.

Ok, let’s try and land this back at money. Considering this is supposedly a series on money, I’ve not talked about money much!

Have a look at the following diagram…

Money flows into our lives from three potential income streams, investments we might have, a business we own and perhaps work in, or the work we do as someone employed or self-employed person.

((We’re blessed as well to live in a nation were different benefits are also available for people from time to time, in different seasons and for different reasons. But that’s a different subject at the moment)).

((You could also argue that loans are a source of income and also gifts from others too. We’ll keep it simple and just focus on these ones though)).  

Money flows in of course. But money also flows out. Sometimes it feels like it leaks out, like it just evaporates.

Money doesn’t evaporate though. It flows in five particular directions.  

Contributing
Giving
Investing
Saving
Spending

As Christ followers, stewardship is how we navigate and order this kind of diagram, how we monitor the flow of our money.

  

We can be careless with our money – poor stewardship.

We can obsess over money, striving for more money (power and control) – poor stewardship.

We can manage the flow of our money faithfully and open to God’s leading – good stewardship.

All of us should seek to develop at least a basic level of health in terms of money management. Living within our means, not getting into debt, working out how to be generous; those kinds of things.

Just like we should all seek to cultivate a basic level of physical health in life.

Some people, of course, are more inclined than others to take their physical fitness to whole different levels. Run marathons, hit the gym, sculpt the deltoids. Nothing wrong with this. For some it brings a great sense of reward, of fulfilment, it’s a passion. Eric Liddle famously said, “I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel his pleasure!”

It just needs to be kept in check. Family commitments, obsessive compulsive nature, vanity, diet, other responsibilities fall to the side.

It’s like that in terms of money management for some people. Some will be more inclined than others to make the system hum rather to simply let it be healthy. Some people will be wired to make it really hum, it will come naturally to them.

This is ok too; but also needs to be kept in check. It is easy to become greedy, a lover of money, a compulsive risk take, etc. There are all sorts of ways that our money management can get out of check.

This is why we should always remember… the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.

These three income streams, investment, business, employment are developed through the leveraging of the gifts that God has given us.

Relationships

Passion
Capital
Skills
Intellect
Time
Nurture

We weren’t all dealt the same cards though.

Each of us us wired with different passions, intellectual abilities, and temperaments. Each of us grew up in different homes that encouraged different degrees of risk taking, championed different values and nurtured each of us in different directions. 

As a result some people were drawn to business, others to professional services such as medicine or law. Some wanted to be school teachers for as long as they could remember. Others determined to work in churches or not-for-profit organisations. Some became builders working for others. Some became builders working for themselves. Some became builders and employed other builders to work for them. 

The financial return varies greatly from case to case. Each person also ends up carrying different pressures and responsibilities in life. Each person ends up with a different amount of money flowing into their life. This shouldn't be a surprise.

Next time... 

How to make more money.
How to manage the money you have.
Tithing - what the heck! 

Money, That’s What I Want – Money: Part 2 of 4

Some reader/viewer discretion is advised in some of what follows. There are a few f-bombs. They are not intended to offend but rather to make a particular point. I think with great clarity. Peace. 

The best things in life are free
But you can keep them for the birds and bees
Now give me money
That's what I want
That's what I want, yeah
That's what I want

You're lovin' gives me a thrill
But you're lovin' don't pay my bills
Now give me money
That's what I want
That's what I want, yeah
That's what I want

Money don't get everything it's true
What it don't get, I can't use
Now give me money
That's what I want
That's what I want, yeah
That's what I want, wah

Well now give me money
A lot of money
Wow, yeah, I wanna be free
Oh I want money
That's what I want
That's what I want, well
Now give me money
A lot of money
Wow, yeah, you need money
Now, give me money
That's what I want, yeah
That's what I want

Artist – The Beatles

Song – Money (That’s What I Want)
Album – With the Beatles
Year –1963

______________________

"You get up two and a half million dollars, any asshole in the world knows what to do: you get a house with a 25 year roof, an indestructible Jap-economy shit box, you put the rest into the system at three to five percent to pay your taxes and that's your base, get me? That's your fortress of f-ing solitude. That puts you, for the rest of your life, at a level of f-you. Somebody wants you to do something, f-you. Boss pisses you off, f-you! A wise man's life is based around f-you."

Frank – The Gambler (2014 movie)

Truthfully, something of an “f-you” attitude is buried away within most of us. For some quite deeply. For other just below the surface. Humans have forever sought to be the lords and masters of their own lives. Humanity grabbed the apple in the garden and said, “we’ll be our own gods.” We still do it today in our lust for power and control, in our desire to be "free."

 ______________________

Blessing is God’s desire for humanity – that we’d experience a flourishing, whole and right life. Part one unpacks this here. There is an economic component to blessing, but blessing goes beyond economics. It’s a quality of life, a quality of relationship with God and others, it is wholeness in oneself, non-anxious living, a sound sleep, laughter, the giving and receiving of hospitality, breaking bread, drinking wine, friendship.  

Blessing is also God’s loving initiative in creating the conditions in which this sort of life is possible, a blessed life. God’s ongoing desire and ongoing initiative in the human story is in order that humanity might come into fullness of life, wholeness of life, a blessed life.

God works within history to bring about blessing.

Sometimes though, our lives don’t feel all that blessed. Then what? In God we trust? What do we put our trust in? For many people the temptation is to “hedge-their-bets.”

It’s not only in the horse racing industry that we find people hedging their bets. Common practice in the Ancient Near East of the Old Testament and the Grecco-Roman world of the New Testament was essentially to hedge your bets, to have a little both ways. You’d have your own god or handful of gods; Asherah or Baal, or later Zeus and Apollo, and you’d worship them, you’d sacrifice to them, pray to them, burn incense in their name, carry a little image of them with you to protect you.

But, you’d also hedge your bets. If there were other powerful nations nearby, or powerful people next door, then those nations or people obviously have pretty powerful gods. You’d find out who their gods were – maybe Dagon, Tiamat, Moloch, Ra, Set, Horus, Poseidon, Jupitar or Mars – and you’d make sure you had them in your pocket too. You’d sacrifice to and honour these gods as well.

This was problematic for Jews and Christians. The decree of Yahweh, the creator of the universe, of the heavens and the earth, the God of Israel, Isaac and Jacob was that Yahweh alone was to be worshiped. You weren’t to hedge your bets with God, you were to worship him alone.

Exodus 20:2-6

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.

God alone is the source of life, the one who desires blessing and brings about blessing, the one who leads you out of slavery and into fullness of life – a blessed life. God alone is sovereign in the universe.

The New Testament puts it like this…

Acts 17:24-28

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

It is God alone who sustains the world, who holds things together, who makes life, well - the miracle that life is.

We’re too used to life though. It is too everyday ordinary. We forget that this life, in and of itself, is a miracle; a gift from God. There is nothing ordinary about it.

With life a gift from God, our trust in life, is to be in God alone. We’re not to hedge our bets.

This isn’t always easy. Throughout the Old Testament, Israel is continually being rebuked for hedging their bets, for worshiping multiple gods, for making sure they had them all on their side. The bible doesn’t call what Israel is doing “hedging one’s bets” though. The bible refers to Israel’s unfaithfulness as adultery, as fornication, as playing the harlot. Pretty strong language!

In our modern context, not many of us are tempted to cry out to Baal or Jupitar when things around us are a little stormy. Not many of us call on Asherah or Apollo to aid us in our attempts to live the good life. We don’t try to hedge our bets by currying favour with Horus.  

We have a tendency to put our trust in other things, we hedge our bets in other ways. The sweat of our brow, hard work, self-reliance, knuckling down. Our own ability to sort our own life out. Or at the other end of the scale, Lotto, a big win, a quick fix, an rich inheritance coming from Nigeria. We hope we’ll get lucky. Perhaps our trust is in education, science, human evolution, the good will and social conscience of society.

Most commonly, our trust is in money.

Our trust is in our assets, our wealth, our possessions. We trust these things (in case God lets us down) to be the source of the good life, of blessing, of security, of happiness, of contentment, of well being. Our path to freedom. 

Ultimately though, money becomes its own false god. We end up worshiping money, putting our trust in money, and looking to money as the source of true life. We’re still faithful Christians of course, we’re just hedging out bets. That’s wisdom isn’t it? No. The bible calls it playing the harlot.  

Have a look at these passages, try and duck them if you can.

1 Timothy 6:6-10

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

James 4:13-16

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 

Hebrew 13:5-6

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”

The Lord is your helper. Not money. 

Mostly our issue in regard to the love of money isn’t that we love rolls of cash or huge vaults of gold coins to dive into and swim around in like Scrooge McDuck dies in Duck Tails.

The issue is to do with power and control. Money represents power and control in our world.

If you have money you have options, you have choices, you are empowered, you can look after yourself, you don’t have to rely on anyone, you have freedom, no one can tell you what to do, when to do it, or how to do it. You are self-sufficient! You are in charge! The more money you have the more power and control you have.

There is a scene in the 2014 movie The Gambler that highlights this perfectly. Mark Wahlberg plays Jim Bennet, and English Professor and high-stakes gambler. John Goodman plays Frank, a kind of underworld, gambling kingpin. It is full of f-bombs (so viewer discretion is advised if you chose to watch the clip). Jim has got himself into trouble despite once having been $2.5 million up. Frank can’t believe that Jim - when he was up – didn’t use that money to put him in an “f-you!” place of financial security for the rest of his life. A position where he could live as lord and king of his own life – at the beck and call of no-one. 

Jim: I've been up two and a half million dollars.
Frank: What you got on you?
Jim: Nothing.
Frank: What you put away?
Jim: Nothing.
Frank: You get up two and a half million dollars, any asshole in the world knows what to do: you get a house with a 25 year roof, an indestructible Jap-economy shit box, you put the rest into the system at three to five percent to pay your taxes and that's your base, get me? That's your fortress of f-ing solitude. That puts you, for the rest of your life, at a level of f-you. Somebody wants you to do something, f-you. Boss pisses you off, f-you! Own your house. Have a couple bucks in the bank. Don't drink. That's all I have to say to anybody on any social level. Did your grandfather take risks?
Jim: Yes.
Frank: I guarantee he did it from a position of f-you. A wise man's life is based around f-you. The United States of America is based on f-you. You're a king? You have an army? Greatest navy in the history of the world? F-you!

Now, you might not like the language, it might not be something you’d say, or an attitude that you’d like to admit exists beneath the surface in your life. Maybe you prefer the softer imagery seen in movies where the character wins lotto, walks into the office, tells everyone what he/she really thinks of them and then walks out with a smile on his/her face, (see James McAvoy as Wesley in the 2008 movie Wanted). It’s the same thing though.

And our world craves the idea of finding oneself in such a position. 

Truthfully, something of an “f-you” attituded is buried away within most of us. For some quite deeply. For other just below the surface.

Humans have forever sought to be the lords and masters of their own lives. Humanity grabbed the apple in the garden and said, “we’ll be our own gods.” We still do it today in our lust for power and control, in our desire to be free.

And, more often than not, money is seen as the means by which one will find freedom.

This isn’t the freedom Christ calls us into though.

Following Christ, living the life of a disciple, it isn’t a life of power and control. To follow Christ is to explicitly acknowledge that we are not the lords, kings or masters of our own lives. It is to secede all of our lives and everything in our lives to Christ. We’re not called to be a false god sovereign over our own life.

Take these passages scattered throughout the New Testament…

Your life is not your own, it has been bought with a price.
It is no longer I that lives but Christ that lives in me.
Take up your cross and follow Jesus.
Present your bodies as living sacrifices.
If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.
For the sake of those with a weaker conscience, don’t always engage in the freedom you have. 

What's hopeless is that too many Christians live life hoping to one day find themselves in an "f-you" position. This is the very antithesis of what it means to be a Christian! (I apologies for the crass terminology, but i think it makes the point with great clarity). For many, serving two masters, God and mammon is too watered down for it to really sink in though.   

Now, granted that we are to steward our lives, we’re left having to negotiate a pretty finely balanced reality. It is a fine line between faithfully stewarding that which God has graced us with and striving for power and control. Just take the following list of words – stewardship, hording, wisdom, fear, sound planning, playing the harlot, hard work, control, faithfulness, slavery, fruitfulness, trusting, false god, resource, freedom, diligence, security, comfort, power, sacrifice, worry, anxiety, trust – it is so easy to get these things mixed up. Rightly sorted one minute, but all mixed up the next. 

It’s a fine line sometimes.

In Lord of the Rings, Frodo, offered Gandalf the ring of power, offered Gandalf power and control. Gandalf replied… “Don't... tempt me Frodo! I dare not take it. Not even to keep it safe. Understand, Frodo. I would use this ring from a desire to do good... But through me, it would wield a power too great and terrible to imagine.”

Money is like that. “Oh this is just a resource, I’m just a steward. I’m just a channel for God, blessed to be a blessing, building my portfolio in order to do some great good in the world.” It is easy to have the best intentions, the desire to do good, but money is sneaky. Your desire is to do good but you can easily end up searching for power and control – failing to see that you are actually now powerless and being controlled.

It sets you work hours. It sets your calendar. It sets your priorities. It sets your values. It sets the yard stick by which you measure your life, your status, your success. It can easily frame your life more than you allow God to frame your life. More than anything frames your life.

So, the good life. A blessed life. A flourishing, whole and right life, it is God’s will for you but it is found in Jesus, not in your bank balance. We discover a blessed life as we follow Jesus, as we walk a long obedience in the right direction, we find ever increasing measures of wholeness. Life still happens of course, following Jesus offers no immunity card to the heartache that life offers at times – though there is always hope.

To think that following Jesus might somehow be a fast track to millionaire is hopelessly misguided. To follow Jesus is to determine that he’ll forever be Lord and King in your life.

The Bible offers no scheme through which to get rich and instead wisdom and guidance to ensure that money is removed from any position as lord in your life.

What is even more mixed up is the way in which we long to be in a position of total control in our lives and hope that the Bible, that following Jesus, that God might help us get to there. Financially or otherwise. To follow Jesus is to submit our lives to his lordship and authority of all things.

Too easily we're deceived into thinking that money will save us and free us in life. We end up chasing, and fantasizing, and organizing our lives in the pursuit of the power and control that money brings. It’s a false god and we’re playing the harlot, we’re unfaithful. God’s will is no longer framing our life. He wants you to have a blessed life but it is found in him, not in money, or anything else.  

Now the challenge in all of this is to discover what it means to live as careful and wise stewards. Money is a front-and-centre reality of life. We’re not to be careless with money, nor pretend it isn’t an important reality.

Next time.